Homs Governorate in Syria is experiencing a surge in sectarian murders and deaths from torture of prisoners, according to reports from Syrian rights groups.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported several cases of Alawites murdered in Homs in recent days.

Shortly after midnight on 25 April, unidentified gunmen stormed a house on Al-Zeir Street in the Karm al-Zeitoun neighborhood of Homs, killing an Alawite man, Alaa Nasr, and his brother, Hussein Nasr, before dumping their bodies in the street.

On 24 April, the body of a civilian from the village of Habran in Suwayda Governorate was found inside an abandoned house near the Dabaa military airport in the Homs countryside. He had been shot several times while attempting to cross into Lebanon. The body of another unidentified person was found next to him.

A university student, Mohammad Saeed al-Waari, was also killed hours after his arrest today when a General Security patrol raided his home in the Karm al-Loz neighborhood. According to sources, his body was found murdered at the city's Al-Nahda Hospital.